


Three Hearts in a Tangle

by punk_rock_yuppie



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Idiot Muscle Baby is in Full Effect, Kissing, M/M, Misunderstandings, Multi, Polyamory, Relationship Negotiations, established relationships - Freeform, no actual infidelity, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-18 13:53:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18251174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punk_rock_yuppie/pseuds/punk_rock_yuppie
Summary: Ryan is kind of an idiot. Sara and Shane love him anyway.





	Three Hearts in a Tangle

**Author's Note:**

> yet another old thing I had laying around that I decided to finish. Ryan's very clueless about polyamory in this, and that's very intentional, but, I dunno, read with caution I guess? this isn't meant to be offensive, the idea just struck me and I couldn't let it alone
> 
> big thanks to hannah, as always, for beta'ing! 
> 
> enjoy!

The thing is… none of them are on the same fucking page.

And it’s _not_ Ryan’s fault, okay? Just so we’re clear? _So_ not his fault.

It’s perfectly reasonable to assume that when you’re sleeping with your best friend _and_ (separately) sleeping with said best friend’s girlfriend that they’re keeping the other person in the dark. Shitty, maybe. But _perfectly reasonable_ to assume that you’re kind of-sort of getting them to cheat on each other, in a way.

“It’s really not,” Shane interjects into Ryan’s personal, internal monologue. The same one he’s explained aloud a couple times already. “Pretty sure that’s about as far as it gets from reasonable.”

Sara snorts into her drink and looks away.

Ryan stares down at his half-eaten enchiladas.

“Did you _want_ us to be cheating on each other?”

Ryan whips his head up so fast he thinks he might have whiplash. “What? No! I was actually, like. Seriously upset about it. But…”

Shane nods approvingly. “But you just wanted pieces of our fine asses so bad, you threw caution to the wind. I get it.”

“No,” Ryan says, but he’s wheezing slightly. “I just—you would both tell me it’s okay, it’s okay, keep going. But neither of you mentioned that you already _knew_.”

“We’re adults, Ryan,” Sara says. “We talk to each other. Like adults do.”

Ryan scowls down at his plate and stabs his fork angrily into one of the enchiladas. “I just… wasn’t thinking, okay?” He shovels some food into his mouth so he doesn’t say something embarrassing like—

 _Yes I really did want you both so badly I was willing to come between you two,_ or—

 _I think I might be in love with both of you_ or _I’m scared of losing you now that we’re talking about it,_ or—

“You’re thinking too hard, Ry.” Shane reaches out across the table and grips Ryan’s shoulder. He squeezes. “It’s not that complicated.”

“It’s not that deep,” Sara agrees.

Ryan slows in his eating. “It isn’t?”

Shane smiles at him and there’s no trace of a mocking edge. It’s a soft and sleepy smile. “How about you get a box, and we talk about this at home?”

 

 

It started like this:

He and Shane were on a shoot and the hotel messed up their booking and stuck them in a dinky room with one barely-queen-sized bed. They’d shared beds before, so that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that the minute they were under the sheets, Shane’s hands found Ryan’s hips and tugged him close until their pajama-covered erections were brushing. Ryan had yelped, but Shane had only murmured soothingly, _“It’s all good.”_

 

 

It also started like this:

Ryan had gotten days mixed up for movie night with Shane and Sara, and found Sara at the apartment alone. Rather than turning him away, she’d let him in, and they’d had their own movie night. With wine, and takeout, and a little bit of making out, there on the couch. Again, Ryan had yelped, had tried to pull away, but Sara had only smiled against his lips, pulled him closer, and said, _“It’s okay.”_

 

 

And then it _just kept happening_. Back and forth. There really wasn’t much to it, certainly no discussions about _cheating_ and _lying_. Things like soft little kisses shared the morning after—before TJ came bursting into the hotel room—or kisses at doorsteps as Sara waved Ryan off and wished him a safe trip home made it all feel positively normal. Somehow, impossibly, it had just never occurred to Ryan that Shane and Sara would talk about it amongst themselves.

No, he became entirely too caught up in the notion that he was the wedge driving them to _cheat_ on each other. And he had agonized over it, a lot. But his heart had also ached, because he’d wanted them both so badly and for so long. And sue him, he was a little lonely and a little uncertain and he just _wanted_ , okay?

 

 

Thinking about it now, in the back of an uber, crammed between Sara and Shane, it sounds so fucking stupid. Shane’s hand is on his knee, a settling warmth; Sara’s got an arm looped with Ryan’s and she’s resting her head on his shoulder. It’s perfect. They barely stumble, sticking close and a little tipsy, as they all get out of the uber once they’re at the Madej-Rubin household.

Obi greets them at the door and winds eagerly around Ryan’s legs. He scoops the orange monstrosity up and declares, “I’m a fucking idiot.” He passes his box of leftovers to Shane, whose long strides carry him to the kitchen and back quickly.

Shane lets out an unattractive guffaw as he returns, at the same moment Sara reaches for Ryan and cups his cheek. She smiles and says, “Yes, but we love you anyway.”

Ryan swallows. He thinks his heart might beat right out of his chest. Obi squirms in his arms so he bends to let the cat down again (he ignores Shane’s claim of, “you can just fucking drop him, it’s fine”) and when he stands up straight, Sara and Shane are both closer. They’re boxing him in against the front door.

“Guys?” He asks, cursing how soft his voice comes out.

“We do love you,” Shane says, which isn’t necessarily what Ryan was looking for but not something he’ll turn down, either. He looks up at Shane and is yet again met with the same warm, sleepy smile. “We thought you understood.”

“I’m an idiot,” Ryan says again. “We could’ve been doing _this_ ,” he gestures to how they’ve cornered him, “for a while.”

Sara shrugs. “We thought you weren’t into that.”

“Why wouldn’t I be into that?” Ryan asks. His voice pitches too high and Shane snorts.

“Love works in mysterious ways,” Sara says and then she’s leaning in and kissing his cheek. Her lips trail over his cheekbone to his ear. “We didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“I couldn’t be further from uncomfortable, right now.”

Sara and Shane share a grin.

“So,” Shane drawls. “Does this mean…” He trails off.

Sara picks up the train of thought.  “...We can take you to bed?”

Ryan shivers, but his thoughts are still ablaze; not even the drinks at dinner or the warmth of two people he loves can deter the neurosis of his brain. “Maybe the couch?” He suggests softly.

Shane and Sara wordlessly walk to the couch, bringing Ryan along with them. They push him to sit on the middle cushion and fall onto the couch on either side of him. They both get close and cozy and Ryan feels dizzy with delight.

“You look a little like you’re freaking out,” Shane observes.

“Little bit.”

Sara smiles and leans in to kiss his cheek. “We talked about it,” she says yet again. “But not just, like, the fact that it was happening. We talked about…” She trails off, looking up at Ryan from her curly hair and luscious eyelashes. “What we did with you, how it felt. What our dates were like.”

Ryan’s body burns at the thought. “Yeah?”

“Yep,” Shane interjects. “We talked about what we’d do, if you wanted this.” He gestures to the three of them. “We have got a _long_ list of date ideas, by the way.”

Ryan beams at Shane, then Sara, then back and forth until his head is spinning. “Fuck, guys.”

“We’re sorry we never talked about it properly. It genuinely never occurred to me,” Shane says, looks at Sara, “To _us_ , that you wouldn’t be on the same page. That’s our bad.”

“It’s fine,” Ryan hurries to assure. “It’s so, _so_ fine.” He looks between the two of them again and realizes he can’t decide who he wants to kiss first. “I just didn’t think I’d get to have _this_.”

Sara leans in close at the same time as Shane, effectively trapping Ryan and he’s never felt safer. Her lips brush his cheek at the same time Shane’s skim the corner of Ryan’s mouth.

In a soft unison, they say, “Neither did we.”


End file.
